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The Political Thread

Started by The Legendary Shark, 09 April, 2010, 03:59:03 PM

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Rately

Some of the videos and comments I've seen this weekend would end your hope in Humanity. The sheer ignorance and casual racism.

Bloody Irish and EU, making life liveable with their funding of Community projects and boosting employment.

Seeing Andrew Neil attack a comedy skit, an accurate one at that, says it all about the mentality.

Reframe all they want, bottom line, we are going to see massive changes to the UK within the next five years. And not for the good, unfortunately.

Professor Bear

#16741
Quote from: Rately on 03 February, 2020, 11:09:42 AM
Some of the videos and comments I've seen this weekend would end your hope in Humanity. The sheer ignorance and casual racism.

You have to remember that what you see when you go online is cultivated for your benefit by algorithms and troll factories churning out fake people and social media accounts meant to create the impression that there is a larger amount of - and thus body of support for - racist sentiment than there actually is.  I'm not saying there aren't people as vocally racist as these fake accounts want you to think, just that there isn't as many of them online as there seems to be.

And it's not just home-grown arseholes doing this, as while I do not subscribe to every red scare boogeyman theory put out there about big bad Putin by MI6-sponsored centrist bible The Guardian and its array of genocide-supporting columnists, it's no secret that Russia promotes discontent in the West by various means, including (I shit you not) using RT - a global multimedia outlet - to platform incel comic book Youtube fanboys moaning about "forced diversity" and how this is destroying comic book culture.  I don't know about anyone else, but I was fucking kicking myself for not twigging sooner that the reason the alt-right is occupying comic book fandom spaces lately is because when comics fanboys bang on about how "SJWs are using political correctness to supplant white male culture", "SJWs" is actually code for "jews" - Comicsgaters are literal Nazis and I didn't see it as I was too busy arguing that you couldn't have paid me to read a Carol Danvers comic 10 years ago because I thought that was the argument we were having.
The far right aren't idiots - but they are outnumbered.  You have to remember that second part, because it's the part they want you to forget.

paddykafka

Quote from: Rately on 03 February, 2020, 11:09:42 AM

Bloody Irish and EU, making life liveable with their funding of Community projects and boosting employment.


For my sins - and they must have been many! - I used to work in the Community sector in Ireland. Since the last economic crash - and under a government coalition that comprised a centre-right political party and a supposedly Socialist - ha! - Labour party, the Community sector here was absolutely decimated by cuts to funding. The community group for which I used to work, had its ENTIRE funding base removed, after the local community partnership - through which the money was channeled - was dissolved by the Government department which oversaw that area of things.

The upshot of this was that we could no longer afford the basics like office rental, phones etc. As the administrator for the group I was left effectively homeless as regards a place to work from. I spent the next  several months depending on the kindness of strangers as it were - relying on the goodwill of a manager of  community project in the area - that was funded from another government department -for a place in which I could work from.

Whereas previously I would have had an office to myself, with room for all the general things one would expect in a working environment - like filing cabinets, shelving space, a working telephone - for the initial six months after the funding was cut, I was lugging around a laptop, sharing half of the day in a nurses office when they weren't there. The rest of the day, the only other available space was a tiny room used for counselling services and in which there was no internet service. The lady who ran the project was a thoroughly decent person, doing her best to accommodate me, but she simply did not have the space or facilities within the project to cater for my basic needs.

My then boss in the community group agreed a deal with the guy who ran a small community centre in the area. I would assist him with the day to day running of the centre, and the quid pro quo of that was that I would have my own separate office in the centre, from which to carry out my duties in relation to the community group to which I was seconded.

On the second day after I started working there, I opened the door to a young school-girl in her early teens and a couple of her feral mates. The first thing this sneering little bitch said to me was: "Are you gay?" I told her to fuck off and slammed the door on their faces. For the next six months I was driven demented by her and the rest of her fellow scrotes, as they regularly hurled Homophobic abuse at me whenever I was going to the local shop or banged on the doors or shutters, pressing the bell to the door and then running across to the other side of the road, to scream more abuse at me when I opened it. "Skinny Bastard!" and "Fuckin' Weirdo!" were among the other terms that issued from their vile gobs.

For most of this time I was dealing with this situation on my own, as the guy running the centre was tragically afflicted with cancer - and from which he later sadly died. The old ladies on the board of this centre were utterly ineffectual - they wanted to wash their hands of any responsibility and just wanted out of the whole thing. Matters were finally resolved when a fantastic lady in one of the groups that used the centre intervened, and through her community connections put a stop to this abuse.

But just as I began to recover from this situation, two utter witches took over the running of the centre. These sociopathic, incompetent twats took a dislike to me for no reason that I could see, brought another guy in to run the centre - essentially demoting me to the status of a dogs-body. After several months of bullying abuse - followed by a refusal to even communicate with me - they announced to my supervisors on the community scheme through which I was employed, that my services were no longer required and that they had "other plans for running the centre". As they were not my official employers - and the former manager was now deceased - the union said that there was nothing they could do and so once again I was left without anywhere to work from. While all of this was going on, I was also struggling with extreme ill-health for the best part of ten months and which necessitated internal surgery.

As a result of all this stress, I ended up having to take sick leave for a month, followed by having to use up my quota of leave and holiday time for the entire year, while another place was found for me in which to work from.

The lady who had previously tried to assist me, gave me space in another centre that she ran, but again, through no fault of her own - down to a simple lack of available space and resources - I found myself utterly depressed and at this point suicidal. I have to stress that I still hold this woman in high regard and no blame should be accorded to her for what happened. She was trying to do her best for me in an utterly impossible situation.

(Because of long-standing social anxiety, I find it very difficult to be around people for a sustained length of time and need a space just to myself in order to work effectively. However, the only place they could put me in was a small counselling room. As one of the strictures in terms of funding for their project was the provision of such a space, they had to give the impression that I was just there on a temporary basis in case an inspector should happen to visit the centre. So again I had no proper office facilities, no phone or, for that matter, even a table upon which to put my laptop. Instead, I had to perch it upon two chairs and lean down over it - which probably wasn't good for my back either. And again, there was no internet signal from the room).

The upshot of all this was that I ended up taking an overdose due to stress and burn-out, had to quit work to spend two years on Illness benefit and am now on Invalidity benefit and unable to ever work again.

I personally know of several other community projects in the area which were also closed down due to their funding being cut, or which were forced by the government to essentially outbid each other in terms of how cheaply they could operate. Some absolutely excellent and dedicated people in the community sector ended up unemployed as a result. And this state of affairs - which happened country-wide - was presided over by a supposedly socialist Minister in charge of the sector.

Apologies for the long rant, but I thought it was important to point out the reality behind the community sector in this country. My personal experience is but one of many examples of the damage that was done to so many decent, hard-working individuals by a government and political party which purported to care about the community.

TordelBack

#16743
Quote from: Professor Bear on 03 February, 2020, 12:41:46 PM
The far right aren't idiots - but they are outnumbered.  You have to remember that second part, because it's the part they want you to forget.

Good to see that TROS got through to you in the end, Prof.

And feck me PaddyKafka but that's some tale of complete horror. Take the greatest of pride in the twin facts that you are somehow still here to tell it, and that you tell it so very well. Hat is off to you, mate.

Rately

Quote from: paddykafka on 03 February, 2020, 01:47:41 PM
Quote from: Rately on 03 February, 2020, 11:09:42 AM

Bloody Irish and EU, making life liveable with their funding of Community projects and boosting employment.


For my sins - and they must have been many! - I used to work in the Community sector in Ireland. Since the last economic crash - and under a government coalition that comprised a centre-right political party and a supposedly Socialist - ha! - Labour party, the Community sector here was absolutely decimated by cuts to funding. The community group for which I used to work, had its ENTIRE funding base removed, after the local community partnership - through which the money was channeled - was dissolved by the Government department which oversaw that area of things.

The upshot of this was that we could no longer afford the basics like office rental, phones etc. As the administrator for the group I was left effectively homeless as regards a place to work from. I spent the next  several months depending on the kindness of strangers as it were - relying on the goodwill of a manager of  community project in the area - that was funded from another government department -for a place in which I could work from.

Whereas previously I would have had an office to myself, with room for all the general things one would expect in a working environment - like filing cabinets, shelving space, a working telephone - for the initial six months after the funding was cut, I was lugging around a laptop, sharing half of the day in a nurses office when they weren't there. The rest of the day, the only other available space was a tiny room used for counselling services and in which there was no internet service. The lady who ran the project was a thoroughly decent person, doing her best to accommodate me, but she simply did not have the space or facilities within the project to cater for my basic needs.

My then boss in the community group agreed a deal with the guy who ran a small community centre in the area. I would assist him with the day to day running of the centre, and the quid pro quo of that was that I would have my own separate office in the centre, from which to carry out my duties in relation to the community group to which I was seconded.

On the second day after I started working there, I opened the door to a young school-girl in her early teens and a couple of her feral mates. The first thing this sneering little bitch said to me was: "Are you gay?" I told her to fuck off and slammed the door on their faces. For the next six months I was driven demented by her and the rest of her fellow scrotes, as they regularly hurled Homophobic abuse at me whenever I was going to the local shop or banged on the doors or shutters, pressing the bell to the door and then running across to the other side of the road, to scream more abuse at me when I opened it. "Skinny Bastard!" and "Fuckin' Weirdo!" were among the other terms that issued from their vile gobs.

For most of this time I was dealing with this situation on my own, as the guy running the centre was tragically afflicted with cancer - and from which he later sadly died. The old ladies on the board of this centre were utterly ineffectual - they wanted to wash their hands of any responsibility and just wanted out of the whole thing. Matters were finally resolved when a fantastic lady in one of the groups that used the centre intervened, and through her community connections put a stop to this abuse.

But just as I began to recover from this situation, two utter witches took over the running of the centre. These sociopathic, incompetent twats took a dislike to me for no reason that I could see, brought another guy in to run the centre - essentially demoting me to the status of a dogs-body. After several months of bullying abuse - followed by a refusal to even communicate with me - they announced to my supervisors on the community scheme through which I was employed, that my services were no longer required and that they had "other plans for running the centre". As they were not my official employers - and the former manager was now deceased - the union said that there was nothing they could do and so once again I was left without anywhere to work from. While all of this was going on, I was also struggling with extreme ill-health for the best part of ten months and which necessitated internal surgery.

As a result of all this stress, I ended up having to take sick leave for a month, followed by having to use up my quota of leave and holiday time for the entire year, while another place was found for me in which to work from.

The lady who had previously tried to assist me, gave me space in another centre that she ran, but again, through no fault of her own - down to a simple lack of available space and resources - I found myself utterly depressed and at this point suicidal. I have to stress that I still hold this woman in high regard and no blame should be accorded to her for what happened. She was trying to do her best for me in an utterly impossible situation.

(Because of long-standing social anxiety, I find it very difficult to be around people for a sustained length of time and need a space just to myself in order to work effectively. However, the only place they could put me in was a small counselling room. As one of the strictures in terms of funding for their project was the provision of such a space, they had to give the impression that I was just there on a temporary basis in case an inspector should happen to visit the centre. So again I had no proper office facilities, no phone or, for that matter, even a table upon which to put my laptop. Instead, I had to perch it upon two chairs and lean down over it - which probably wasn't good for my back either. And again, there was no internet signal from the room).

The upshot of all this was that I ended up taking an overdose due to stress and burn-out, had to quit work to spend two years on Illness benefit and am now on Invalidity benefit and unable to ever work again.

I personally know of several other community projects in the area which were also closed down due to their funding being cut, or which were forced by the government to essentially outbid each other in terms of how cheaply they could operate. Some absolutely excellent and dedicated people in the community sector ended up unemployed as a result. And this state of affairs - which happened country-wide - was presided over by a supposedly socialist Minister in charge of the sector.

Apologies for the long rant, but I thought it was important to point out the reality behind the community sector in this country. My personal experience is but one of many examples of the damage that was done to so many decent, hard-working individuals by a government and political party which purported to care about the community.

Jesus, Paddy.

Heart goes out to you fella. That is horrendous.


paddykafka

Thank you Tordel's and Rately for your kind words and support. It means a lot and is deeply appreciated. All the best to ye!

-Paddy Kafka

Rately

Quote from: paddykafka on 04 February, 2020, 01:19:47 PM
Thank you Tordel's and Rately for your kind words and support. It means a lot and is deeply appreciated. All the best to ye!

-Paddy Kafka

Best to you too, Paddy!


The Legendary Shark


Sounds like a rough road, Paddy. I hope it's smoothing out some for you.

[move]~~~^~~~~~~~[/move]




von Boom

Jeez, Paddy, hope things are getting better for you.

paddykafka

Cheers Shark and Von Boom. At this point, and after everything that has happened to me over the last few years, I'm just hanging on out of spite.   :)

sheridan

That's a rough situation you've been in, paddy - glad you're out of it now, and hope life improves for you.

JayzusB.Christ

Sorry to hear about all the shite you've been through. Hope things improve hugely
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Tiplodocus

Blimey! Paddy, that puts my moaning about work into perspective. Hope you are onwards and upwards.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

paddykafka

Thanks be to Jayzus - and as an Atheist that's something I rarely hear myself saying, lol - to Sheridan, Tips, Tordels, Rately, Sharky, Von Boom and all you good people on the finest, friendliest and greatest comics forum on the planet, for all your best wishes, for your kindness, understanding and essential decency.

In a world in which I continually find it very hard to fit into and function in - and frequently feel like Ignatius J. Reilly railing against the Confederacy of Dunces - it is heartening to know that there are good folk like yourselves out there. I am so grateful to you all.

You guys rock!

Cheers! - Paddy Kafka

moogie101

Damn Paddy, we all bitch about the odd bad day at work but how you were treated is disgusting. I genuinely hope things are much better for you now mate.